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Dead birds shut down downtown Austin (was: First day in the new office)

I was hoping to start today by posting a few pictures of our brand-new Optaros office in downtown Austin. Today was to be our first day in the new space. Unfortunately, downtown Austin is closed today, after authorities found a number (possibly dozens) of dead birds along Congress Ave (the street the office is on), which happens to be right in front of the State Capitol building. With the legislative session scheduled to begin tomorrow, the authorities have taken an extra-paranoid view on the situation (which is fine by me.)

The State called in the police, fire department, and the 6th Civil Support Team (WMD) a “Texas National Guard unit, created in 1999 to respond to terrorist incidents involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, as well as other disasters and catastrophic events, both natural and man made.”

As of 10:45am, the local paper (The Statesman) and news sites have no updates.

For more:

• Dead birds shut down Congress Avenue
• Health Dept.: No Public Health Threat Despite Large Number Of Dead Birds
• KXAN Photo Gallery: Dead Birds Shut Down Congress Avenue

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[Update: 11:15am]
The news makes it to MSNBC, which reports that the dead bird count is more like 60! Downtown Austin shut down after bird deaths